BUILD MULTI-PURPOSE DAM FOR HYDRO IN NORTH...Urges Parliamentary Committee on Employment (PAGE 13, SEPT 29, 2010)

THE Parliamentary Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises has suggested to the government to build a multi-purpose dam for both hydro and irrigation for Agriculture in the Upper East Region to harvest the huge volumes of water that occasionally cause flooding and the subsequent loss of lives and properties.
The committee made the suggestion when it toured some communities affected by the recent floods in the Northern part of the country.
It would be recalled that the recent floods in the three Northern Regions following days of heavy rainfall and the opening of the sluice gates of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso, devastated dozens of farmlands and inundated several communities along the White Volta basin.
In the Upper East Region, at least 12 lives were lost as a result of people trying to harvest their crops with the aid of canoes and collapsing switch houses.
The team was accompanied by Dr Sulley Gariba, a Policy Advisor at the Office of the Vice President, and Mr Alhassan Azong, a minister of state. According to the team, the tour also formed part of an overall development programme under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SAPA).
The Vice Chairman of the Committee, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the construction of the dam would provide a lasting solution to the annual floods.
He appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, go to the aid of the communities devastated by the disaster and make available to them relief items such as roofing sheets, to enable them to cope with the situation.
The ranking member of the Committee, Mrs Akosua Frema Opare, said the tour had provided the MPs with first hand information on the situation, adding that it would guide them in their deliberation in the house and also aid in advising the government on the way forward.
The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni, assisted by the Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Patrick Akake, and the Chief Executives for Bolgatanga, Talensi-Nabdam and Bawku West, Mr Epsona Ayamga, Ms Vivienne Anafo and Mr. Moro Adams Anaba respectively took the parliamentary team round the affected areas.